E3 2015

[gunswordfist]

This has surpassed Iconoclasts as my most anticipated indie game. How does an indie game have animation this good? I didn't think it was possible for AAA games to actually look like cartoons.

[Spark Of Spirit]

They achieved it last gen with A Boy & His Blob, Wario Land: Shake It, and Batman: TB&TB, this is just the next logical step up. 2D games have finally achieved what they've been going for since they started.

Now imagine Turtles in Time with improved sprites and graphics looking closer to the cartoon instead of Reshelled. Pretty obvious which not only looks better, but which is closer to what was intended.

[gunswordfist]

That would be awesome.

[Commode]

Didn't pay a ton of attention to E3 this year, but so far I've only seen two games I'd consider a must have for me, Super Mario Maker and Cuphead.  I was aware of Mario Maker before but what really sold me on it was the NWC.  Cuphead just looks super fun, shame it's only on Xbox One and PC, since I game on neither of those platforms.

[Kiddington]

Cuphead looks so great. I can't believe I'm saying it, but I probably need to get an Xbone now. I've never been a "buy an entire console for one game" kinda guy, but if I can wring up some money here.....

As far as everyone complaining about Nintendo, please. It could've been worse, it could've been sooooo much worse. Yeah it was underwhelming, but this is kind of, you know, expected when Nintendo is also doing the direct reveals a couple times a year. I dunno, I just have a hard time being that mad about it really. If nothing else, Super Mario Maker looks to be the most underrated and unique party game we've seen in years, and that's a pretty amazing transformation when all we were really expecting out of it was a glorified level editor.

One other observation; I'm seriously finding the overall Metroid fanbase to be beyond insufferable at this point. Yeah I get it, Federation Force looks like crap, but get over yourselves. Out of all the butthurt and salt to come out of this, I think that's what got to me the most.

[gunswordfist]

zit sounds like Metroid fans are right to me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be fair, a lot of people hated Other M (from what I played of it, I thought that it was OK, but I haven't really played any other Metroid games besides Super Metroid), and this is the first Metroid game since that one, and it has already been five years. So after waiting so long for a new, great Metroid game, they are getting another one that very much looks like it could be another dud, meaning that they'd have to wait even longer to get a new Metroid game that lives up to the franchise's pedigree.

Being a Ninja Gaiden fan, I can relate, seeing as how the last good NG game was back in 2008, and we had two absolutely terrible ones after that, thus potentially killing the franchise, or at least making its future look very bleak.

[gunswordfist]

Yes, that. I might go along with the Metroid fans if I think Federation looks dull.

Also, it's tough being a Streets Of Rage, Ninja Gaiden and DMC fan.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

DMC is especially frustrating because that franchise was actually doing great, and is only doomed now thanks solely to Capcom's massive incompetence as a publisher. When a game like DMC4 reviews relatively well (an 84 average on Metacritic) and sells the highest of any game in the entire franchise (over 2.5 million copies), any other company's reaction would be to immediately green-light DMC5 and increase the marketing budget for it. Capcom, on the other hand, assumes that it calls for a complete series reboot from a third party developer who's greatest achievement in the character action genre up to that point was Heavenly Sword,  which received incredibly mediocre receptions from both critics and gamers alike.

I'd love to know what exactly the executives at Capcom were smoking when they came up with that brilliant decision.

[gunswordfist]

Ugh, yeah. I was just hearing about how DMC4 sold the most. Special Edition shows that Capcom still has a competent dev team for the series...but they decided to fuck it over anyway. It makes no sense at all.

[Foggle]

"When I thought about developers that are really known for great gameplay and design (in terms of gameplay implementation), there aren't that many," Saito continued. "But Platinum is one of them. They're known for great gameplay and development of gameplay engines and so we brought up this conversation dialogue and decided to make this collaboration project."

"Honestly, in my personal opinion, the best action game developer in Japan has to be Platinum Games," Nier director Taro Yoko added. "So, being able to collaborate with them on this endeavor on the new Nier project is a great feat for us."

...

So, since this is a JRPG we're trying to do that good balance with typical Platinum Games-style action elements with JRPG-element combat."

"A lot of people think of action when they think of Platinum Games, but with this team they really showed a lot of respect to the original Nier. We actually have several fans of the previous game on the team, and through that respect they haven't completely deconstructed the old combat system or created a completely new one. They've taken the old combat system from the original and out of respect sorted of added onto it, added their own sort of flair here and there to improve upon what we already had and make a better game experience."

It sounds like people needn't worry about this being a linear action game.

"It's not going to be a game on rails so to speak," Yoko said when asked about the game systems. "It's not going to be one straight path. You are going to have room for exploration similar to the previous Nier."

Yoko has long lived in Tokyo, but the director recently moved across the country to Osaka, where he is now embedded at Platinum's offices. So I asked him to talk about the studio, while also expressing some concern about the sheer number of titles Platinum is working on at the moment.

"I don't know what Platinum Games was in the past. I've only been with them recently. I can't really comment on Platinum Games. But for my team specifically -- it's a very young team. For example, the game designer [Takashi Taura] is 29 years old."

"So it's a very young, but passionate team. They have a lot of desire and passion for our project to do a good job. They're extremely skilled and very quick. Obviously we may do overtime here and there, but it's not like we're slave drivers necessarily. They love their job, they love being in the industry. Honestly I've been in the industry and I'm just amazed at the amount of skill and how efficiently this team works."

Ugh ugh ugh I can't wait for this fucking game. Platinum and Yoko Taro are two of the best things the game industry has to offer. This is like a dream come true for me.

[gunswordfist]

You're so lucky dude.

[Foggle]

I really am. A couple weeks before E3 I was thinking about how Platinum hadn't announced or released anything in almost a year. The teasing of both Wonderful 102 and Vanquish 2 was exciting for me (along with MGR2 earlier in the year), but I never expected them to be working on Nier. Nor did I even expect that game to ever get a sequel. It was probably one of the most incredible gaming moments I've ever experienced, and it was just some music, text, and concept art. I really don't expect anyone who hasn't played the original to understand my hype, but I do hope every PS4 owner here buys a copy of the new one when it launches.

[gunswordfist]

 

I'll have to try it out if I ever get the chance to.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1585931391670973&id=100007623816758

I wonder what he means by "I will do it."